October 9, 2009

58 comments:

Who cares what the French think? This is how we elected an empty suit as president. Too many American people cared what the French thought. The only thing the French think about is, well, France, cheese, wine, and sex; not necessarily in that order.

The French? Le Figaro is produced by conservatives, for conservatives. Polling its readers would be as unrepresentative of the country as a whole as a poll of Telegraph readers in the UK, or WSJ readers in the US.

About that same number believe Polanski should be extradited. Once again, I think we are seeing a gulf between the elites and the common folk. Obama winning a peace prize for what he might do is exactly the kind of thing that gives the aristocracy warm and fuzzies. (Heaven forbid they actually have to do something.) Thus revolutions are born.

(An important factor in causing the French Revolution and in ensuring its success is that the aristocracy had physically removed itself to Versailles while simultaneously increasing its power. Ironically, our Congress is doing the same thing. They and their sycophants (on both sides of the aisle) have largely sequestered themselves in Washington and have greatly expanded their power. See also Japan.)

If this last month or so has taught us anything, the actual french people are far more like us than we thought.

Actually the French are a lot alike us and that I think is what fuels our antagonism. We both are filled with our own self-importance, we follow international rules right up to the point where they conflict with our national interests and then we do what we want.

Now I will say that the French do have one up on us in sinking a Greenpeace ship because I don't even think Ronaldus Maximus Reagan would have even done that.

What's really interesting, and a teaching moment for our nation's next generation, is that Barack Obama himself doesn't think he deserves the Peace Prize. But that won't stop him from accepting it!

Associated Press: "[Obama] said he does not 'view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments,' but rather as a 'call to action, a call for all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century.'"

And yet, Obama said he would accept the prize he himself says he did not earn.

So, the lesson for the nation's school children is to accept praise even though you didn't earn it. Accept prizes, even though you didn't earn it.

I was in Paris last summer, and they love Americans and live like Americans. The young like SArkozy because he promises a strong France. The only negative comment I heard was from our aging pony-tailed guide, a boomer leftist guy. And he was angry that the Socialist did not beat Sarkozy, not angry at the US.

If Obama were really an astute politician he would go to Oslo and ask them to hold the prize. He would give a speech the says: "I am humbled and honored that you have looked at the goals I have set for my administration as worthy, as goals that we as a world must strive for. But WE are not there yet, WE have much work to do. That work will be difficult but WE must remain committed to OUR goals. WE must remain dedicated to the process of achieving a lasting peace. So I ask that you hold this award. Hold it until WE accomplish OUR goals. Hold it until the day that I can come back here and accept it – not as an individual but on behalf of all of US. Thank you.

If he did that he would basically be able to assert his vision as the vision of the world. He would be able to co-opt these people to his agenda. He would be able to speak on behalf of the world and not just the US when he engages other nations. That is what a smart politician would do. Let’s see what he does.

Superdad - Obama's too much of a narcissist to do that. The good news is that this will make his ego so out of control that he'll make a lot more blunders where it counts in domestic policy like health care.

"So, the lesson for the nation's school children is to accept praise even though you didn't earn it. Accept prizes, even though you didn't earn it."

The real challenge for the 21st century is to eliminate schools. They do nothing but grade children on performance which is humiliating, defeats their self esteem, and forces them to think less of themselves. Some enlightened schools or programs encourage critical thinking which must be outlawed; lest people actually use their minds and realize what is really going on in America- the greatest parlor trick in the world.

Perhaps the French realize that Obama's sole role is to destroy the USA's power, and they do not want him to take over as Global Ruler as his reward. The French are too proud to serve under that incompetant of a Benedict Arnold figure.

The French? Le Figaro is produced by conservatives, for conservatives. Polling its readers would be as unrepresentative of the country as a whole as a poll of Telegraph readers in the UK, or WSJ readers in the US.

Does this mean that you and other lefties, if polled, would respond that Obama is a deserving recipient of the prize, fls?

Because if 70% of the French said he DID deserve it, that would also be red meat for the "Althouse community" that can't stand to see the current President of the United States be honored or succeed in any way.

The gracelessness, pettiness, and all around hatred around here are remarkable.

This seems an appropriate place to comment on the last acting American President to win the Nobel Prize and his contribution to world piece. Woodrow Wilson won the prize in 1919. He was the warrior who coined that great phrase, that still thrills the blood of liberals everywhere: "Peace without victory". Now there's a cause worth dying for. Sadly though, at the Paris Peace Convention he was only able to secure victory without peace. Wilson was the grand poobah at that convention. By its end he distinguished himself by getting up the nose of just about everyone he dealt with. He apparently suffered a minor stroke during the negotiations but altered mental status no doubt allowed him to see with greater clarity the beauty of his own ideals. We are still fighting wars as a result of the peace treaty he brokered, but no matter. He was an idealist and his rhetoric was so much loftier than anyone else's.

I'm here to point out that conservatives do not make up the whole of French society.

And thank you for pointing out that a largely socialist country is not entirely composed of conservatives. There was some danger of the glaringly obvious going un-stated, but you rose to the challenge.

The problem with your remarks is that you are claiming that "voted in a Le Figaro poll" is equivalent to "conservative", which is of course not even slightly true. Yes, Le Figaro is right of center. But it isn't exactly the French version of The National Review. It is more like the French Wall Street Journal. Also, the poll wasn't restricted to regular readers of the paper.

if 70% of the French said he DID deserve it, that would also be red meat for the "Althouse community"

If 70% of the French thought Obama deserved the reward, we'd be mocking them AND Obama. Because let's face it -- the idea of giving a Peace Prize to a freshman President simultaneously waging wars in three countries is inherently funny.

I am glad to hear that you have the power to identify the political persuasions of tens of thousands of anonymous French internet voters. The pressing questions is why you're fooling around in a blog comment forum when you could be making millions selling your services to internet content providers.

"Yes, Le Figaro is right of center."

It's as far to the right as dailies get in France.

A country in which the center-right UMP narrowly defeated the far-left Socialist Party in the last Presidential election. So like I said, center right. Or "wingnut", in your "anyone to the right of me is insane" worldview.

That's because it's a newspaper. National Review is a magazine.

They didn't cover metaphors in law school, I take it.

Yeah, when they're not reading la Libé, the commies are all hanging out on Le Figaro's website.

The funny thing being that you claim this is a right-wing blog, yet there is no shortage of leftie nitwits like yourself reading it.

Of course Le Figaro is right-of-center. But, like the Wall Street Journal, it's a damn good newspaper.

You should also understand that terms such as "right" and "left" in France have somewhat different meanings and connotations than they do in the Anglo-Saxon world. The French, like most Europeans, are heavily socialized, if not necessarily Socialist. But no matter who's in power, the large bureaucracy is not going away, and almost nobody wants it to. It's been a source or stability in France at least since Napoleon, and the French do not regard it in the same way conservative Americans might view Big Government.

We were in France for 3 weeks on business just before the U.S. election last year, and I found absolutely the best coverage and analysis of the U.S. political scene in Le Figaro. In fact, it was of a quality that I haven't seen in American newspapers in many years. It was odd to go 3,000 miles from home to get unbiased and analytically neutral U.S. political coverage in the media.

As you can imagine, a lot of European coverage of American politics (and everything else) is very skewed and odd. Not in the sense of left wing as we understand it, but in the sense of not "getting" this country, its history, or its people, but then proceeding to ignorantly bloviate anyway. I'm afraid a lot of U.S. coverage and perceptions about Europe is the same.

But of all the French papers we were reading, Le Figaro had, in general, the best feel for the U.S. and explained it the best to its readers.

The French I think read more newspapers than Americans now do—it's very obvious on the Métro, compared to New York or Boston— and much as some would like to marginalize Le Figaro, all I can tell you is that it was easily the most common newspaper in people's hands. There was plenty of other reading material, but Le Figaro seemed to be the default newspaper.

But of course we were staying in a friend's apartment in a very middle-class area of the 15th, and you know how those bourgeois pigs are, with their selfish concerns about their little jobs and stuffy families, etc.